The history of the Church is full of many Black / African Catholic saints, who received recognition for great deeds or meritorious conduct. The jet-setters who frequent the Swiss resort town of St. Moritz are no doubt unaware that it was named after the first black person to be documented as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church. In the early Church there were a number of African saints, even popes. As you’ve heard, Bishop Baker declared today a day of fast and prayer for all those throughout the world who are suffering from the Coronavirus. However, no mention is made of their race. These black men and women of faith are already well known in the local Catholic communities that are championing their sainthood causes. Martin was born on December 9, 1579, in Lima, Peru, the illegitimate son of Don Juan de Porres of Burgos a Spanish nobleman, and Ana Velasquez, a young freed Negro slave girl. Black Catholic history can be traced to the Acts of the Apostles (8:26-40) when St. Philip the Deacon converted the Ethiopian eunuch – one of the first moves the Apostles made to evangelize outside Jerusalem and thus sow the seeds for the universal Church. St. Augustine Catholic Church of New Orleans was the first black church in Louisiana and the first black Catholic church in the United States. St. Martin de Porres “1579‐1639”, a Black saint, was born from Spanish Nobleman, Juan de ... wrote to Pope Pius IX to plead for the Catholic Church to minister to black people in New York and address the concerns or racism. We really do not know who the first black saint was. In the 1830s a group of free African-American New Orleanians began organizing to create a Catholic church in Tremé, a historically black and multicultural New Orleans neighborhood. March 20, 2020 Good afternoon everyone, I hope you’re all doing well and surviving our “new normal” on this Friday. Did you know that the first African woman to be canonized as a saint by the Church in 21st century lived her entire childhood as a slave? On July 24, 1990, the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus of the United States designated November as Black Catholic History Month to celebrate the long history and proud heritage of Black Catholics. Elizabeth joyously acquiesced. This is an incomplete list of people and angels whom the Catholic Church has canonized … Many lost their lives in defense of the faith. St. Martin de Porres. Sunday, the church will be open for private prayer from 10am until 1pm, but we will not have Mass, or a service together. Many were also honored for their contributions to the Church and their community. Catholic Online; ... Fr. The first African American priest in the U.S. could become the country's first African American saint as his cause ... First African American priest on his way to becoming country's first African American saint. On Nov. 3 the Roman Catholic Church celebrates St. Martin de Porres, a Peruvian Dominican brother whose life of charity and devotion led to his canonization as the first black saint of the Americas.